Week 1 -
And we're in. Now the hard bit starts.

Note: this post has been very lightly edited. Posted to keep it timely. Extra editing due in the future

Over the weekend i got the keys and moved into my new flat. It’s been a crazy few days but so far pretty good.

It’s not been perfect (the meltdown after the night before so to speak) but that was all things considered a very small one.

I thought I would document some of the things which I find helpful and some of the adaptions we have made.

The move.

My friend hired a van for the day and it was massive. It also had the worst gearbox on earth; I am told. We started early and drove to my old flat first.a

I’m moving flats in stages. So for this trip we took all my bigs things (bed, bookcases, bike, sofa) and enough small things to get started.

The main things we left behind were the ‘archive’. I hope you know what I mean. The things you take from place to place? The ones which you are scared to sort out? That’s the archive. I left that behind for another day.

I think taking less helped lots. From arriving to be completely unpacked took less than an hour.

One of my friends said my flat looks empty but I really really like it. It’s perfectly tidy and there is nowhere for mess to hide.

I will go back and sort the things I have left behind. But for now they are safe where they are for a few months.

First night.

After unpacking we had a quiet BBQ at a nearby friends house and then me and another friend walked back.

The plan is for me to try spending a night alone on Monday night. I will see someone in the evening and someone else will visit in the morning. Hopefully that will work.

Back to the first night. I didn’t really sleep well at all. I was very tired but a few things were not working.

The first was the strangeness of the room. It always takes me a while to get to know a space and it’s the same here. It just makes me feel odd and out of place. Like I am ‘heading home’ soon but there’s no home to head too.

The next issue and probably the biggest was the lighting. The flat had energy saving lightbulbs and over the course of the night I found that they hummed and visually flickeres. I slept with the hallway light on and my door slightly open and the light was not helpful.

We didn’t think to check the lights, so if I was moving again I would make sure to check them! Doh!

We changed them today as one of the first things.

First morning

This morning didn’t go very well. I’d slept badly as I mentioned above and was really starting to feel the anxiety.

I’m not sure if it’s the same for everyone but once the excitement and busyness wore off it was replaced with huge amounts of anxiety.

That led to a meltdown, I was desperately trying to find defusing techniques (Xbox, Lego, reading, sleep ) but all three options were blocked. Eventually I just went pop. Demands exceeded spoons and from there it’s a fight for control.

Meltdown these days are very brief at least. My friend was super helpful knowing it was a meltdown and giving me space to decompress then gently guiding me into an activity / helping me get things back under control.

A few hours and I was back in control. Then I finally managed to get some sleep.

I will write about meltdowns properly some other time. (Way too tired too do it justice tonight)

That said, meltdowns do have the effect of clearing out the anxiety. They are horrible. But I do feel better once the pressure is out of my system.

& the rest.

The rest of the day perked up from there. I brought new light bulbs to fix the lighting issues (hue lux, so I can control them from my phone) and have worked through the snag list of small issues.

The rest of this week will get pretty busy. We have lots of other things to do tomorrow but so far so good.

I don’t have a super reliable internet connection. So for the next few weeks it could be a bit interesting getting connected for things. Will update when I can.

Hopefully tomorrow night is my first attempt at a solo night. It’s going to be a challenge.

This place feels nice so hopefully all will be well. This week should be interesting. Hoping for the best

(PS: the lion is very happy. The amount of outside space we have has quadrupled and he has plans to start rearing antelope ;))